■TECHNOLOGY
TECRO offers symposiums
The Investment and Trade Office of the Taipei Economic and Cultural and Representative Office (TECRO) said yesterday it would hold two free symposiums on investment and technology related topics in the next two months. The symposiums will be arranged together with several technology associations from the US east coast, TECRO said. The first symposium will be held on Aug. 8 and the second on Sept. 5 at TECRO’s office in New York. Lecturers will include prominent figures in the fields of investment and technology. Four Taiwanese professors will also give lectures. The speakers will discuss the effect of the subprime crisis, conditions on Wall Street and investment strategies to weather the global economic slump, TECRO said in a statement.
■AVIATION
Thai carrier suspends flights
Thailand’s low budget airline One-Two-Go announced yesterday it was suspending its operations for eight weeks, to allow time for financial restructuring. Services will stop from Tuesday until Sept. 15 as the impact of high fuel prices hits the no-frills carrier. “One-Two-Go have been affected by fierce price competition, other surcharges and continued high fuel prices and local political turmoil,” the company statement said. “The airline executive must be prudent and map out a new strategy focusing on its customers,” it said.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Downturn gets worse
The economic downturn is worse than previously thought and there is no extra money available for public spending, Finance Minister Alistair Darling said in an interview published yesterday. Darling also told the Times newspaper that taxpayers were at the limit of what they were willing to pay, a day after official data showed a record deficit in public finances and reports that the government might bend its budget rules. “At Christmas most people remained hopeful there would be an improvement by the autumn,” Darling said.
■TOYS
Mattel wins court case
The world’s largest toy maker, Mattel, on Friday won a court case against competitor MGA, maker of the Bratz dolls that have drawn customers away from its classic Barbie dolls. A 10-member federal jury in Riverside, California, ruled that the design for the Bratz, with their modern, urban look and cartoonish large heads and eyes, was conceived by designer Carter Bryant while he was working under contract at Mattel. It found MGA chief executive Isaac Larian interfered with Bryant’s contractual duties, taking Mattel property for MGA’s use. In the next stage of the case, the jury will determine if the dolls themselves infringe on the designs owned by Mattel and award any damages.
■AGRICULTURE
China must increase crops
China, the world’s biggest grower and consumer of grains, must boost crop yields by at least 1 percent a year to ensure the country has enough food to feed its 1.3 billion people, the Chinese Minister of Agriculture Sun Zhengcai (孫政才) said. The country will accelerate introduction of high-yield rice and genetically modified crops, protect farmland and raise rural incomes to retain farming interest, Sun said in a statement on the central government’s Web site on Friday. China’s growing incomes and population are increasing food demand even as more agricultural workers seek higher-paying jobs in cities.
Taiwan’s technology protection rules prohibits Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) from producing 2-nanometer chips abroad, so the company must keep its most cutting-edge technology at home, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks in response to concerns that TSMC might be forced to produce advanced 2-nanometer chips at its fabs in Arizona ahead of schedule after former US president Donald Trump was re-elected as the next US president on Tuesday. “Since Taiwan has related regulations to protect its own technologies, TSMC cannot produce 2-nanometer chips overseas currently,” Kuo said at a meeting of the legislature’s
TECH WAR CONTINUES: The suspension of TSMC AI chips and GPUs would be a heavy blow to China’s chip designers and would affect its competitive edge Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is reportedly to halt supply of artificial intelligence (AI) chips and graphics processing units (GPUs) made on 7-nanometer or more advanced process technologies from next week in order to comply with US Department of Commerce rules. TSMC has sent e-mails to its Chinese AI customers, informing them about the suspension starting on Monday, Chinese online news outlet Ijiwei.com (愛集微) reported yesterday. The US Department of Commerce has not formally unveiled further semiconductor measures against China yet. “TSMC does not comment on market rumors. TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are
FLEXIBLE: Taiwan can develop its own ground station equipment, and has highly competitive manufacturers and suppliers with diversified production, the MOEA said The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday disputed reports that suppliers to US-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) had been asked to move production out of Taiwan. Reuters had reported on Tuesday last week that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan given geopolitical risks and that at least one Taiwanese supplier had been pushed to relocate production to Vietnam. SpaceX’s requests place a renewed focus on the contentious relationship Musk has had with Taiwan, especially after he said last year that Taiwan is an “integral part” of China, sparking sharp criticism from Taiwanese authorities. The ministry said
US President Joe Biden’s administration is racing to complete CHIPS and Science Act agreements with companies such as Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co, aiming to shore up one of its signature initiatives before US president-elect Donald Trump enters the White House. The US Department of Commerce has allocated more than 90 percent of the US$39 billion in grants under the act, a landmark law enacted in 2022 designed to rebuild the domestic chip industry. However, the agency has only announced one binding agreement so far. The next two months would prove critical for more than 20 companies still in the process